The Choice to Slack or Act: Do Online Petitions Count As ‘Real’ Activism?
Nov 22nd
Illustration from The Express Tribune
Type ‘petition’ into Facebook’s search bar and what comes up is a slew of results: pages, groups, apps, all having to do with social activism. There are Facebook petitions to raise awareness of animal cruelty and petitions for women’s rights—petitions that fight to keep ABC soap operas on the air and petitions against Facebook petitions.
The creation of websites like Change.org, that specialize in organizing petitions on the web, are a sign of the popularity of petition-making that reaches outside of the realm of Facebook. With over 5 million members, Change.org is the biggest and most influential petition-promoting site on the web. Boasting a team of over 98 organizers, campaign directors, software engineers and strategists, Change.org calls itself an ‘organizing platform’ for citizen activists.
Scanning Away: QR Codes Burst
into Social Media Marketing
Oct 25th
On a late Saturday night, a group of 20-something girls squeeze into the back booth in NYC’s busy Banc Café , pull out their smartphones en masse and begin to tweet, text and talk before doing something particularly odd–they start taking pictures of the menu.
By scanning a barcode-esque symbol, known as a QR (Quick Response) code, on the menu with their smartphones, the girls are linked to a video on the café’s Vimeo page of head chef preparing Banc’s signature dishes.
How Generation Y Is Transforming Fashion Now
Dec 9th
Raymond Chu, a 20-year-old NYU student, doesn’t follow fashion trends. He preferred military jackets and three-piece suits a la Indiana Jones and Fred Astaire in high school, and was always considered overdressed. Now, instead of mockery he receives praise from friends and strangers alike. Repeatedly featured on street-style photography blog The Sartorialist, and chosen as a 2008 finalist for Esquire’s Best Dressed Real Man, Chu feels flattered by the recognition, posting these photographs online for his 1,000 Facebook friends to view.
From Facebook to Twitter to blogging, Generation Y live their lives online—and nowhere more so than in fashion. In this public celebration, camera-loving Gen Yers post outfits, clothing and inspiration on the Internet, using this platform as a way for the fashion-minded to share ideas. With the unlimited possibility of the web, Generation Y has made fashion more influential, more accessible, and certainly more global.
“Fashion is no longer a one-way street to consumers, but now a two-way street,” says Susan Cernek, senior fashion editor for Glamour.com, the online counterpart to the magazine.
The Internet has drastically shortened connection time, and communication is now instantaneous around the globe. If traditional print magazines rejected online components, they would be far behind the times. Still, with the never-ending flow of online outlets, many readers look elsewhere to find their daily dose of fashion.
Tweeting with the Stars
Oct 27th
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Generation Y Twitter users connect to their favorite celebrities by following their tweets.
Lashing Out Against Kanye
Jaws dropped and boos ensued when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards last month. From A-listers sitting in the audience to the millions of viewers watching at home, the venting began immediately, many channeling their anger via Twitter.
Katy Perry, who was nominated for the same award that Taylor won, instantly tweeted from her cell phone: “F- U KANYE. IT’S LIKE U STEPPED 0N A KITTEN.” Pop star Pink, another nominee, also condemned Kanye with a cell phone tweet. Within seconds, their words were received by millions of followers, many of whom were also online typing similar updates.
“Everyone tweeted about it,” says Austin Vanaria, a 20-year-old Tufts student who had received Perry’s update when writing his own, directing his flared temper into 140 characters. Twitter forges connections between celebrities and regular people, creating an intimacy and immediacy that makes these untouchables become touchable. This unprecedented connection is the reason that Gen Y is flocking to Twitter—to follow their favorite celebrities whether it’s Jimmy Fallon or Lindsay Lohan. “It makes you feel connected to celebrities and other people in real time, even if you’re not with them,” says Vanaria.
Tear Down this Cyber Wall
According to a Quantcast Corporation study, almost half of Twitter users today are Gen Yers between the ages of 18 and 34. “It’s the newest medium that introduces the feeling of getting closer, and creates this sense that direct communication [with celebrities] is possible,” says Lisa Gitelman, a media historian and communications professor at NYU Steinhardt. “By paring it down to 140 characters, you feel like you stripped away all the pretenses.”